99 whales stranded in New Zealand

Four day rescue effort has to be called off as weather worsens

January 2012: Ninety-nine pilot whales have stranded at New Zealand's Golden Bay - prompting a massive and prolonged rescue operation. However despite concerted efforts over a four-day period, the whales repeatedly restranded - and sadly those that remained beached will now be euthanized.

The whales originally came to shore at 11am on Monday, January 23, and Department of Conservation (DOC) staff and an army of volunteers cared for the whales during the afternoon, covering them in wet sheets to keep them as comfortable as possible. The whales were left at nightfall with the hope that they would refloat themselves on the 10.45pm high tide.

An inspection the next day revealed that 40 live whales remained stranded on the Farewell Spit beach. Seventeen had refloated themselves overnight and were swimming in a south-easterly direction.

The remaining 40 stranded whales were then refloated at 11am on Tuesday, but after milling around 200 metres offshore they failed to refloat themselves on the high tide and became restranded. Rescuers have once again painstakingly cared for the whales. But despite the best efforts the whales failed once again to refloat on Wednesday's high tide - and only 25 whales survived by this state.

An inspection at first light on Thursday morning revealed that the pilot whales refloated the previous day had restranded themselves. The pod has stranded even further to the east than before making the chances of a successful refloat even more unlikely.

The whales had now been ashore for five high tides and have been twice refloated with the assistance of DOC staff and volunteers.

With the whales in noticeably poor condition and with a gale warning in force, an assisted refloat would not be possible, forcing the decision to euthanize all surviving whales.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/whale-stranding230112.html

65 Pilot whales die after stranding in New Zealand

Stranded whales on Farewell Spit now dead
November 2011. Pilot whales stranded at the tip of Farewell Spit were unable to save themselves and are now all dead.

Department of Conservation Golden Bay Area Manager John Mason said 16 whales had died and DOC staff had taken the difficult decision to euthanize the remaining 18 whales to end their suffering.

'We had wanted to give the whales a chance to refloat and hopefully find their way out to sea in the high tides yesterday and overnight. But they re-stranded each time and more whales died. The whales seem to have come in a little further inshore in each re-stranding. The tides are reducing so it became very unlikely the remaining whales would get out to sea and that they would survive.

"Rather than prolong the whales' suffering we decided to take the humane course of euthanizing the remaining 18 whales this morning.'

65 whales
The stranded pilot whales were reported to NZ Department of Conservation (DOC) staff by a Farewell Spit tour guide. DOC rangers who went to the area found 20 dead whales and one whale in a poor condition was euthanized. The next morning the rangers found another 44 whales stranded nearby, 2 - 3 kilometres from shore, 34 of which were alive and 10 dead.

A rescue of the whales was too dangerous to undertake given the distance of the whales from shore in a remote location where tides come in rapidly over the shallow tidal flats. It would be arduous and unsafe for people to walk the 2 - 3 kilometres back to shore after refloating the whales in chest-deep water.

DOC rangers remained at the Spit and overnight to monitor the whales. They found another 10 whales had died when the high tide receded. A further six whales were found dead when rangers checked again at first light.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/pilot-strand.html

Pilot whales die after Highland beaching (via Dawn Holloway)

Fifteen whales have died and many others have become stranded at Kyle of Durness, on the north Highland coast.


The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said the whales were believed to be from a pod of as many as 60.

The long-finned pilot whales may have been hunting prey or had sought a place to rest.

Rescuers trying to save the pod said the whales had perished when they stranded at low tide. About 35 beached as the water in the sea loch receded.

Some 20 of them were refloated to deeper water using inflatable pontoons as the water returned, but the remainder had died, the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) charity said.

'Narrow channel'
It said many of the whales had stranded on their sides, on top of each other and upside down and were breathing in sand.

A further 20 are thought to be in deeper water and not in imminent danger.

On Friday three pilot whales, including a calf, beached on the shore of the loch.

A Royal Navy bomb disposal team training in the area offered its help in any rescue effort.

Scottish SPCA inspectors also headed for the scene.

Highland Council countryside ranger Donald Mitchell and nine coastguard volunteers monitored the situation.

Mr Mitchell said that at low tide only a narrow channel of sea remained.

Kyle of Durness opens out into Balnakeil Bay.

On Friday, Charlie Phillips, a Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) field officer, said: "It is going to be tricky.

"It is a remote and difficult place to get to."

Mr Phillips added: "The whales may have come in from the Pentland Firth, following prey or trying to find somewhere to rest."

Marine strandings
He said a young female pilot whale was found at Scourie, in Sutherland, a few weeks ago.

SAC vet Dr Andrew Brownlow of the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC), who leads the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme, drove to the scene.


The college said: "Should any of the whales fail to make it back out to sea and do not survive, Dr Brownlow will lead post mortem examinations with the aim of identifying what has caused them to come ashore.

"This enables the Strandings Scheme to monitor trends in causes of marine strandings which in turn allows identification of any new or developing hazards to marine mammals in Scottish waters."

In May, two pilot whales were found dead in a Hebridean loch after experts feared more than 60 of the animals had been at risk of becoming beached.

The pod had got into difficulty in Loch Carnan in South Uist.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-14258149

Pilot whales leave Loch Carnan following death

22 May 2011

A pod of more than 60 pilot whales, at risk of beaching, has again left a Hebridean loch after one of them died.

The animals had left the shallow waters of Loch Carnan in South Uist on Saturday, however returned during the night when the beaching took place.

A post-mortem examination suggested the young female died from a disease, not because it was stranded on rocks.

Marine experts said the rest of the pod had now left the loch and appeared to be heading south.

Dr Andrew Brownlow, who carried out the autopsy, said the whale showed signs of having suffered a serious disease and its injuries were not bad enough to have killed it.

That could indicate that head injuries suffered by a number of other members of the group are not life-threatening.

Rescue teams have been searching the islands and inlets of the loch but have not found any other whale carcasses.

The British Divers Marine Life Rescue team has now been forced to withdraw due to worsening weather conditions.

The team is planning to leave South Uist on Monday but will leave behind essential kit, in case the whales are seen close to the shores of the island over the next few days.

The whales were first spotted around Loch Carnan on Thursday, sparking fears that they would perish in a mass stranding.

There had been concerns after about 20 of the pod were spotted with head injuries, thought to have been sustained while in the shallow water.

The Scottish government lent rescuers a fisheries protection boat to follow the animals' movements.

Alisdair Jack, Scottish National Organiser of the BDMLR, said: "The reasons why whales beach themselves is not known, however illness can be a factor.

"We are hopeful that the remaining members of this pod have now left the vicinity and moved out to sea.

"The support provided by the Scottish government, and by the MPV Hirta in particular, have been very much appreciated by the BDMLR."

'Greater tragedy'

Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson said: "I am pleased to hear that the pod has left the loch and hope they remain in deeper waters.

"The loss of life is very unfortunate but a number of teams working together in South Uist have ensured that a greater tragedy has been averted.

"Given the death of one whale, and clear injuries to a number of other animals, the MPV Hirta will continue to search for the pod and provide monitoring assistance."

At the end of October last year, some pilot whales almost got stranded in the same sea loch. Less than a week later, 33 whales, believed to be the same group, were found dead on a beach in County Donegal in the Irish Republic.

Pilot whales prefer deep water but come inshore to feed on squid, their main food.

Last week a pilot whale died on Sunday morning after getting stuck in the Sullom Voe inlet in Shetland. An autopsy was carried out on the animal to try to establish why it died but the results are not yet known.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-13488302

Record number of whales slaughtered in the Faroe Islands

More than 1,000 so far this year

November 2010: A total of 1,115 pilot whales have been brutally slaughtered in the Faroe Islands so far this year, making it the largest kill of any whale species in the world.

Environmental and animal welfare organisations are deeply concerned about the escalation of these hunts, as more whales have been killed in 2010 than in any year since 1996 - and even more may be killed before the end of the year. The average annual catch for the past ten years has been 627 pilot whales.

Despite Government claims to the contrary, Faroese TV footage clearly shows that the brutal methods used to kill the whales have not improved and are likely to inflict appalling suffering on the whales - and as these shocking stills show, the slaughter is literally turning the sea red.

'Killing these intelligent, social whales results in shocking cruelty'
Joanna Toole, Marine Mammals Programmes Manager for the World Society for the Protection of Animals, said: ‘The chaos of killing large groups of these intelligent, social whales inevitably results in shocking cruelty. A highly modern community killing more than 1,100 whales in this way is completely unacceptable.'

The Faroese authorities have given no indication as to why so many whales have been killed this year.

During the past two decades, extensive research, led by Dr Pál Weihe of the Faroese Department of Public and Occupational Health, has been undertaken into the impact on the health of Faroese consumers of contaminants including mercury and PCBs which are found in pilot whale meat and blubber.


In August 2008, Dr Weihe and Faroese chief medical officer Dr Høgni Debes Joensen issued a statement recommending that pilot whale no longer be used for human consumption due to the significant threat it poses.

The Faroese Government has said it is in the process of evaluating these findings, but in the meantime has recommended that consumers be guided by dietary advice it issued in 1998 - that only one or two pilot whale meals a month should be consumed, and women who are or may become pregnant, or are breast-feeding, should refrain from eating any pilot whale at all.

The equivalent of 11kg meat for every islander
Jennifer Lonsdale, Director of the Environmental Investigation Agency, said: ‘Hunts in 2010 have produced about 550 tonnes of pilot meat and blubber for the 49,000 islanders. This equates to 11kg for every islander, including babies - almost 1kg per month per person. This is about five times 1998's supposedly safe consumption recommendations, and it completely ignores the more recent warning not to eat pilot whale at all.'

Since many people, including infants and some mothers, do not consume pilot whale meat and many others are unable to obtain it, some people will inevitably be consuming much higher amounts.

By allowing these hunts to continue, the Faroese Government is callously ignoring both this proven threat to the health of its citizens and the unchecked cruelty inflicted on the whales

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/faroes-whales.html

Record number of whales slaughtered in the Faroe Islands

More than 1,000 so far this year

November 2010: A total of 1,115 pilot whales have been brutally slaughtered in the Faroe Islands so far this year, making it the largest kill of any whale species in the world.

Environmental and animal welfare organisations are deeply concerned about the escalation of these hunts, as more whales have been killed in 2010 than in any year since 1996 - and even more may be killed before the end of the year. The average annual catch for the past ten years has been 627 pilot whales.

Despite Government claims to the contrary, Faroese TV footage clearly shows that the brutal methods used to kill the whales have not improved and are likely to inflict appalling suffering on the whales - and as these shocking stills show, the slaughter is literally turning the sea red.

'Killing these intelligent, social whales results in shocking cruelty'
Joanna Toole, Marine Mammals Programmes Manager for the World Society for the Protection of Animals, said: ‘The chaos of killing large groups of these intelligent, social whales inevitably results in shocking cruelty. A highly modern community killing more than 1,100 whales in this way is completely unacceptable.'

The Faroese authorities have given no indication as to why so many whales have been killed this year.

During the past two decades, extensive research, led by Dr Pál Weihe of the Faroese Department of Public and Occupational Health, has been undertaken into the impact on the health of Faroese consumers of contaminants including mercury and PCBs which are found in pilot whale meat and blubber.


In August 2008, Dr Weihe and Faroese chief medical officer Dr Høgni Debes Joensen issued a statement recommending that pilot whale no longer be used for human consumption due to the significant threat it poses.

The Faroese Government has said it is in the process of evaluating these findings, but in the meantime has recommended that consumers be guided by dietary advice it issued in 1998 - that only one or two pilot whale meals a month should be consumed, and women who are or may become pregnant, or are breast-feeding, should refrain from eating any pilot whale at all.

The equivalent of 11kg meat for every islander
Jennifer Lonsdale, Director of the Environmental Investigation Agency, said: ‘Hunts in 2010 have produced about 550 tonnes of pilot meat and blubber for the 49,000 islanders. This equates to 11kg for every islander, including babies - almost 1kg per month per person. This is about five times 1998's supposedly safe consumption recommendations, and it completely ignores the more recent warning not to eat pilot whale at all.'

Since many people, including infants and some mothers, do not consume pilot whale meat and many others are unable to obtain it, some people will inevitably be consuming much higher amounts.

By allowing these hunts to continue, the Faroese Government is callously ignoring both this proven threat to the health of its citizens and the unchecked cruelty inflicted on the whales

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/faroes-whales.html

Whales found dead on Donegal beach

Scientists have taken skin and tissue samples from the 33 pilot whales which died off the coast of County Donegal.


Environmentalists are trying to establish how the whales beached on Rutland Island near Burtonport.

It's thought they were the same group spotted in the Outer Hebrides at the end of October.

Dr Simon Berrow of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said it was one of the biggest mass deaths of whales in Irish history.

He is concerned that Royal Navy sonar equipment could have played a role.

"Thirty or 40 pilot whales were spotted off the Outer Hebrides at South Uist last week," he said.

"It looked like they were going to strand. It was bad weather. They were not seen again."

Dr Berrow said the Royal Navy had been in the area off South Uist and had moved away.


Campaigners were concerned that the latest sonar equipment could have disturbed the navigational skills of this deep diving species of whales.

But a spokeswoman from the Royal Navy said that when the whales were spotted near South Uist, the closest navy ship was 50 miles away.

At that distance, she said, there was no way that the sonar equipment could have affected them.

In the past, the navy has denied that sonar noise from their warships could cause whales to beach.


However, in America, the US Navy was ordered not to use mid-frequency sonar during training exercises from 2007 and 2009, after a judge found in favour of campaigners who argued the devices harmed marine mammals in the area.

A team from Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology travelled to the scene off Donegal to take samples from the mammals.

Skin samples will also be sent to the Irish Cetacean Genetic Tissue Bank at the Natural History Museum in Dublin.

Sixty whales died in the 1960s off the west coast of Kerry and 35 to 40 animals died in north Kerry in 2001.

Eimear McGee: "They're a very strong social group... so the sick and the healthy died here together"

By Nuala McCann

BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11705622

Whales found dead on Donegal beach

Scientists have taken skin and tissue samples from the 33 pilot whales which died off the coast of County Donegal.


Environmentalists are trying to establish how the whales beached on Rutland Island near Burtonport.

It's thought they were the same group spotted in the Outer Hebrides at the end of October.

Dr Simon Berrow of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said it was one of the biggest mass deaths of whales in Irish history.

He is concerned that Royal Navy sonar equipment could have played a role.

"Thirty or 40 pilot whales were spotted off the Outer Hebrides at South Uist last week," he said.

"It looked like they were going to strand. It was bad weather. They were not seen again."

Dr Berrow said the Royal Navy had been in the area off South Uist and had moved away.


Campaigners were concerned that the latest sonar equipment could have disturbed the navigational skills of this deep diving species of whales.

But a spokeswoman from the Royal Navy said that when the whales were spotted near South Uist, the closest navy ship was 50 miles away.

At that distance, she said, there was no way that the sonar equipment could have affected them.

In the past, the navy has denied that sonar noise from their warships could cause whales to beach.


However, in America, the US Navy was ordered not to use mid-frequency sonar during training exercises from 2007 and 2009, after a judge found in favour of campaigners who argued the devices harmed marine mammals in the area.

A team from Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology travelled to the scene off Donegal to take samples from the mammals.

Skin samples will also be sent to the Irish Cetacean Genetic Tissue Bank at the Natural History Museum in Dublin.

Sixty whales died in the 1960s off the west coast of Kerry and 35 to 40 animals died in north Kerry in 2001.

Eimear McGee: "They're a very strong social group... so the sick and the healthy died here together"

By Nuala McCann

BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11705622